Transparency seems to be the least regarded virtue in the startup ecosystem. Everyone stakeholder talks about its positive while forgetting to apply it. Founders will not tell the team about the real state of fundraising or money in the bank. An investor will never tell you he is not interested in you anymore. An employee …
Author Archives: Atul
Ask
Why are shy in asking, be it for advice or buying. Social scientists call it risk-averse tendency. The fear of losing hurts more than trying to gain. Asking from experts saves our time, no one is judging us. We make things look complicated. At the same time is it our ego or insecurity which plays …
Micromanage
The modern-day organization has gone bonkers, managers have become a surveillance machine. How does it matter what an employee wears and what time he comes and goes back from work? Why does he need to share his social media details or his affiliations to the management? I thought startups were about innovation and creativity. Nobody …
Hype
Hype is synonymous to oxygen in the current startup ecosystem. It is not limited to calling oneself a thought leader or a serial entrepreneur. Everyone is an expert in something, everyone calls himself or team a hustler. Most founders are under survivorship bias while investors on the hunt for a Unicorn. As a result, everyone …
Fearless
Starting a startup is a sign of being fearless. As a founder, you have to ensure that this philosophy gets propagated in every aspect. The hierarchy or pedigree should not hold back radical transparency. A fresher should get an equal opportunity like anyone else. They will be wrong at times. Encourage them to learn and …
advice
This crowded world of smart communication has a side effect. We have experts and advisors everywhere. Open Twitter, and you will find an investor sharing wisdom on running a successful startup. Open Hacker News, and you have some product guy sharing his wisdom followed by 1000 others in agreement or against it. …
Screen sucking
I am reading this book: driven to distraction at work. It talks about our screen consumption addiction. As per a 2006 report: enterprises are losing $200+ billion/year because of distraction at work. Reading this book reminds me of myself, how distracted and less focused I have been all this while. Many other books like Hooked, …
Liking
All animal species shows the tendency of liking. It is auto-programmed and changes with our experience. Liking is not limited to a person or material. It plays a vital role in our decision-making process. We like to hire people who match our criteria and the same goes for our investment. Robert Cialdini in Influence writes …
food and biology
Till class 10th, reading biology was all about cleaning exams. That notion of mine has changed over the past decade. I have realized it is important to understand my body and its limitations. I am getting old every day. I particularly focused on understanding human microbiome and neurotransmitters. It made me realize the importance of …
Brain fsck
We are changing every day, so is everything around us. This change of pace is going to be a killer. Email has replaced mails. Smartphones have displaced phones. Eating meat was a delight for us decades back, now it is available for daily consumption. Meeting friends, chit-chatting are things of past we have mobile for …